Floral display support for gravestones



r i i L FLORAL DISPLAY SUPPORT FOR GRAVESTONES I I Filed June so, 196'?INVENTOR. HUGH W. C LARK United States Patent 3,511,461 FLORAL DISPLAYSUPPORT FOR GRAVESTONES Hugh W. Clark, Rte. 3, Box 221-A, Statesville,N.C. 28677 Filed June 30, 1967, Ser. No. 650,405 Int. Cl. A47g 7/04 US.Cl. 24827.8 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVESAND BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Prior floral wreath holders of onetype used near gravestones and the like have been of tripod design withsliding braces between three legs to permit the tripod arrangement to befolded flat for storage and shipment. These holders have a single hookat the top for sustaining a floral wreath or display.

Other floral holders are of the gravestone engaging type .such asdisclosed in US. Pats. Nos. 3,164,343 and 3,145,847 and have beendesigned either to surround the gravestone or adjustably and partiallyenvelop the gravestone to the extent that a rather expensive andelaborate supporting structural arrangement is required. Heretofore, noinexpensive and simplified design for an adjustable floral holder hasbeen developed which is suitable for a variety of floral displayapplications about or adjacent to a gravestone.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to that end and comprisesa pair of U-shaped laterally adjustable members adapted to be secured tovarious sides of the gravestone and maintain a floral display devicethereon, a first embodiment designed to sustain in particular a varietyof Wreath displays and the second embodiment adapted to supportcontainers holding either planted floral displays, live out flowers orthose of an artificial nature.

With the foregoing in mind, it is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide a floral display device of the type described whichis adjustable in size so as to fit gravestones and monuments ofdifferent girth.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device of thetype described which will support containers and the like above the baseof the stone and hence out of the way of mowing equipment to enableclose trimming about the base of the stone without interference.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a floralwreath display device which will support floral containers or displaysin spaced relation to the side or front of the stone and which isdurable, easy to install and inexpensive to manufacture.

3,511,461 Patented May 12, 1970 A further object of the presentinvention is to provide a gravestone flower support which will permitthe positioning of a variety of displays including containers andwreaths along a selected edge or face of the stone.

Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a newfloral display construction which, when secured to a stone, will remainfirmly anchored and sustain a'wreath or display in a fixed position forextended periods of time and in all kinds of weather.

These and other objects of the present invention will become moreapparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designatelike parts.

FIGURE DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the two primaryembodiments of the present invention releasably secured to a gravestonewith a floral wreath and container-held floral display shown in hiddenlines supported by the holders.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of a first embodiment of the presentfloral display support illustrating the installation of that device overthe top of a gravestone shown in hidden lines and the support of afloral wreath thereby also shown in hidden lines.

FIG. 3 is a perspective, fragmentary view of the retaining andsupporting member used to hold the U- shaped stone-engaging members ofthe first embodiment of a floral support in spaced relationship and tosupport a floral Wreath display.

FIG. 4 is a perspective partially disassembled View of the secondembodiment of the present invention showing the positioning of U-shapedsupport members about the side or end of a gravestone shown in hiddenlines and the securement of one of a pair of complementarycontainer-holding members to these members.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings and particularly toFIG. 1, thereis shown a gravestone generally designated 10 comprised ofa head panel 12 and a base 14 to which is secured both embodiments ofthe floral supporting device forming the subject matter of thisinvention.

The first embodiment of the present invention is a floral supportingstand generally designated 16 adapted to be releasably secured to thetop 18 of the gravestone head panel 12 and particularly comprising apair of U-shaped gravestone engaging members 20 which are held in spacedrelationship from each other in parallel planes. The U-shaped membersare preferably integrally connected at the end of each depending leg 22and 24 by horizontal stone-engaging members 26 and 28 which arepreferably covered with a resilient flexible material having a highcoefficient friction so as to provide some gripping effect against theside of the stone when the support 16 is positioned thereabout.Obviously, other sections of the device may be suitably covered withsuch a material, particularly when those sections come in direct contactwith the surface 'of the gravestone.

Each of the U-shaped members 20 are separated along the top portion 21,and, at the separation, are provided with a hook 30 and cooperatingserrations 32 comprising a securing arrangement suitably guided by aneye 34 also securable in additional serrations 33 which is formed in oneportion to provide lateral adjustment for the cooperative engagement ofgravestones of varying size. The eye 34 is preferably formed at an angleof from 30 to 35 degrees with top portion 21, the incline of the eyebeing toward the rear of the stone. The eye will remain secured inserrations 33, should hook 30 become uncoupled, to retain stand 16 onthe gravestone, though pivotal movement of leg 38 (shown in brokenlines) will then permit movement of the lateral portion of leg 38through the eye 34 when an adjustment for stone size is desired. Becauseof the adjustable securing arrangement, each of the U-shaped members 20are formed by complementary sections 36 and 38 joined along the upperportion as described above. The latching mechanism comprised of hook 30,serrations 32 and 33, and eye 34 therefore provides means for releasablysecuring the U-shaped members when a suitable lateral adjustment inthese members is made.

The front leg 38 of each of the U-shaped members 20 has an inclinedportion 40 in which is positioned a plurality of notches or serrations42 for cooperative adjustment with a pair of adjustable upper floralwreath engaging hooks 44 integrally formed from a wire member 46. Thewire member 46 communicates with leg 38 at two locations 48 and 50 oneach inclined portion 40 to sustain the hooks at a fixed spacedrelationship above a second pair of hooks 52 located at the lowerportion 54 of the incline. The lower hooks 52 are formed from anintegral wire 56 interconnecting the front depending ing legs ofU-shaped members 20. Thus hooks 44 and 52 are adapted to retainreleasably any variety of floral wreath arrangements and serve doubly tosecure the U-shaped members 20 in a fixed relationship each from theother.

The lowermost portion 58 of depending leg 38 is offset and slantssomewhat rearwardly from inclined portion 40 to provide some grippingforce to retain holder L16 when placed across the thickness of theheadstone 12. This gripping effect insures that weather or animals arenot likely to dislodge the display from the gravestone, and it avoidsthe necessity of elaborate and expensive securing means which oftentimesmust surround the entire portion of the headstone to be effective.

The second embodiment of the present floral display stand showngenerally as 59 utilizes complementary leg members 60 and 62 to form aU-shaped member generally indicated as 64 which is laterally adjustablefor cooperative engagement with gravestones of varying size by a hook'66 and notch '68 arrangement somewhat similar to that described above.In this particular embodiment, an adjustable container holder generallydesignated 70 which includes a pair of adjustable complementary members72 each formed from an integral wire member having a plurality ofnotch-engaging hooks 76 and 7 8 formed in each end to cooperativelyengage the overlapping portions of the U-shaped support members 64forming the adjustability mechanism.

It is readily apparent that member 72 may be shifted laterally toaccommodate, in this particular embodiment, cylindrical containers ofvarious diameters though obviously the members may be interchanged withother members of various sizes to accommodate containers of differentshapes and dimensions.

Each end of depending legs 60 and 62 of U-shaped members 64 ispreferably integrally connected by connecting members 80 and 82 and ispreferably shaped to provide holding portions 84 and 86 to facilitateeasy installation of the device about the edge of a gravestone. Thesemembers 80 and 82 may also be covered with a resilient material having ahigh coefiicient of friction to provide additional gripping action or,alternatively, provided with rubber gripping members 88 as shown to holdthe device 59 against the face of a gravestone.

Thus there has been provided in the broadest sense a floral stand for agravestone having a pair of U-shaped gravestone engaging members spacedfrom each other in parallel planes and connecting structure whichretains these members in a spaced relationship while additionallysupporting a floral display. The U-shaped members are laterallyadjustable to fit gravestones of various sizes and have a latchingmechanism suitable for releasably securing the members once a desiredlateral adjustment is made. The floral supporting portions of thedevices comprise either a number of adjustable hook members which canretain a floral display particularly in wreath form, or adjustablecomplementary container holders, whatever the occasion demands. Anynumber of container and wreath holders may be interchanged with eitherof the embodiments described herein with equally satisfying results.

While there has been described two preferred embodiments of a floralstand for gravestones, it will be obvious that many modifications andalterations may be made in the adjustable U-shaped support members, thefloral display supporting structure and other portions of the disclosedinvention by those skilled in the art without departing from the realspirit and purpose of this invention, and such modifications arecontemplated.

I claim:

1. A floral stand for a gravestone comprising: a pair of individually,articulated, adjustable U-shaped gravestone engaging members spaced fromeach other in parallel planes; and a pair of individually, adjustablemeans retaining said members in spaced relationship and having means forsupporting a floral display.

2. A stand as claimed in claim 1, said members being laterallyadjustable for cooperative engagement with gravestones of varying size.

3. A stand as claimed in claim 2 further comprising means for releasablysecuring said U-shaped members upon lateral adjustment thereof.

4. A stand as claimed in claim 1, said retaining and supporting meansincluding upper and lower adjustable floral wreath engaging hooks, eachof said hooks securing said U-shaped members and adapted to releasablyretain a floral wreath thereon.

5. A standard as claimed in claim 4, one of the legs of said U-shapedmember having an inclined portion and said retaining and supportingmeans secured to said portion so that a retained floral wreath will betiltably displayed thereon.

6. A stand as claimed in claim 1, said retaining and supporting meansincluding an adjustable container golder releasably secured to each ofsaid U-shaped memers.

7. A stand as claimed in claim 6, said container holder includingadjustable complementary members cooperating to sustain a container in adisplayable position proximate a gravestone.

8. A stand as claimed in claim 7 wherein said container holder isadapted to retain a cylindrical container.

9. A stand as claimed in claim 3, said retaining and supporting meansincluding upper and lower adjustable floral wreath engaging hooks, eachof said hooks securing said U-shaped members and adapted to releasablyretain a floral Wreath thereon, one of the legs of said U-shaped membershaving an inclined portion and said retaining and supporting meanssecured to said portion so that a retained floral wreath will betiltably displayed thereon.

10. A stand as claimed in claim 3, said retaining and supporting meansincluding an adjustable container holder releasably secured to each ofsaid U-shaped members, said container holder including adjustablecomplementary members cooperating to sustain a container in adisplayable position proximate a gravestone and wherein said containerholder is adapted to retain a cylindrical container.

11. A stand as claimed in claim 9 wherein at least 'a portion of thestand is covered with a pliable high- References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 2,714,728 8/1955 Bloch 248-226 X 2,289,701 7/1942 Engel et a12483ll 2,864,575 12/ 1958 Stewart 248-313 X Bowling 248-27.8 Lindblom24827.8 X Clement 248-278 X Boser et a1. 248-27.8 X

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner 10 F. DOMOTOR, Assistant Examiner US.Cl. X.R.

